Navy Blue, Silver & White St. Pete Beach Wedding – Don CeSar

Jessie and Tony’s Love Story:Tony and I met through mutual friends in high school in Citrus County, FL. We became friends and would occasionally see each other, but dating never was in the cards for us at that time.

We both went off to separate colleges. Tony attended UCF in Orlando, while I attended USF in Tampa. In January of 2008, Tony and his college roommates came to Tampa to celebrate his 21st birthday. Again brought together by mutual friends, I accompanied the group for the outing. That night there was a lot of catching up on each other’s lives and what we currently were both doing.

The rest was history. We began dating and continued long distance until Tony graduated from UCF in 2009. Tony then made the move to Tampa and started his career. I graduated from USF in 2010 and we purchased our first home in 2011.

Tony proposed to me on my 25th birthday, May 10th, 2012. We were getting ready to go out to dinner with my parents, when he told me he wanted me to open my gifts before they arrived. We sat at the dining room table (probably for the first time in the year we had lived there), and I read my beautiful card. I then proceeded to open my gift which was a book that I had been wanting to read. I was so impressed that he remembered the book from the one time months ago I had mentioned it, and I was beaming. Tony then randomly pressed a button on our iPad and our song began to play. He walked over to me and immediately got down on one knee. The rest was kind of a blur, but I remember it being perfect! My parents showed up within minutes and were just as surprised as I was. It was the best birthday gift I could have ever asked for!

“Everyone who knows Tony knows that he is the biggest Dallas Cowboys fan ever!” the bride exclaimed. “Many of our guests may not even have noticed this, but it wasn’t a coincidence that our colors were [the same as the Cowboys].”

Although the Odessa couple wanted a traditional beach wedding, they didn’t want it too stuffy or too sandy.

“We knew we wanted to be married by the beach, but not on the sand,” Jessie explained. “After looking at numerous wedding venues, I absolutely fell in love with the old charm of the Don CeSar Hotel. It feels like you are in an old historic building, but with all the amenities of a newer resort. The best of both worlds!”

“When looking for a florist, I really looked for variety. Northside Florist’s website had every type of wedding you could imagine,” the bride gushed. “After meeting with Kathy [of Northside Florist] and seeing her work, I knew that she could make my vision come alive. I felt completely comfortable with giving her artistic freedom. To no surprise, Kathy outdid herself; when I walked into the ballroom for the first time, I was blown away!”

“Beth [of Cheers Events] was incredible. She was so amazing throughout our entire journey, and she made the day go as smoothly as humanly possible. I felt as though she was a guest at the wedding and not the wedding coordinator. She is the absolute best at her job, and I couldn’t have ever imagined the day without her,” Jessie beamed.

Looking back, the bride shared that one of her most memorable moments came at the end of the wedding ceremony.

“My mother and mother-in-law planned a surprise butterfly ceremony. The reverend made the announcement that they were going to release butterflies as a sign of combining the two families. I was so surprised and it was just stunning!” Jessie reminisced.

“I absolutely fell in love with the old charm of the Don CeSar Hotel. It feels like you are in an old historic building, but with all the amenities of a newer resort. The best of both worlds!” – The Bride

“We finished our pictures with about 15 minutes to spare before the reception was to start. Tony and I obviously didn’t want to go to the cocktail hour, so we sat down in the ceremony seats and just watched our friends and family upstairs enjoying themselves. It gave us time to reflect on the beautiful ceremony that we had just had and actually spent some quality time together on our wedding day;l just the two of us! It was awesome and something I will always remember!” -The Bride

“I knew Kathy of Northside Florist could make my vision come alive. I felt completely comfortable with giving her artistic freedom. To no surprise, she outdid herself; when I walked into the ballroom for the first time, I was blown away!” – The Bride

Marry Me Tampa Bay editor, Anna Coats, created Marry Me Tampa Bay in 2012 to showcase the area's best local weddings and vendors. She has been featured as a wedding expert on the national talkshow Daytime, Fox13, ABC Action News, Great Day Tampa Bay, and Bay News 9 (now Spectrum).